34 



B O R N U. 



Bornou. 



Trait*. 



Animals. 



Architec- 

 ture. 



in the sun, in which state it may be kept for two 

 years. Before being used as food, it is reduced to a 

 line powder, and mixed with palm oil till it assumes 

 the consistency of paste. The other root is that of 

 a tree, with the name of which we are unacquainted. 

 It is prepared for use by boiling, without any further 

 process. 



The fruits of Bornou are as delicious as they are 

 abundant. The most common species are grapes, 

 apricots, and pomegranates, lemons, limes, and water 

 and musk melons. There is a valuable tree called the 

 Kedeynah, indigenous, and, as far as weknow, pecu- 

 liar to this country, in form and height resembling 

 the olive, and the lemon in its leaf, and bearing a nut, 

 of which the kernel and shell are both in great estima- 

 tion, the first as a fruit, the last on account of the oil 

 extracted from it, which the people of Bornou burn 

 in their lamps as a substitute for the oil of olives. 



The supply of animal food in Bornou, is even 

 more ample and varied than its vegetable stores. 

 Innumerable flocks of sheep, and herds of goats and 

 cows, with amazing numbers of horses, buffaloes, 

 and camels, (the flesh of which is highly esteem- 

 ed,) brouze on the vales and the mountains of this 

 favoured country. The common fowl is also rear- 

 ed by the inhabitants ; and their bees are extreme- 

 ly numerous. Their game consists of the huad- 

 dee, and other species of antelopes, the partridge, 

 the wild duck, and the ostrich, the flesh of which 

 they prize above every other. Their other wild 

 animals are the lion, the leopard', the civet cat, the 

 small wolf, the fox, the wild dog, with which they 

 hunt the antelope, the elephant which is rare, and of 

 which they make no use, the crocodile, the hippopo- 

 tamus, and a large and singular animal called Zara-^ 

 pat, which is described as resembling the camel in its 

 head and body, as having a long and slender neck 

 like the ostrich, as being much taller at the shoulder 

 than the haunches, and as defended by so tough a 

 skin, as to furnish the natives with shields that no 

 weapon can pierce. Like all countries in similar la- 

 titudes, Bornou is much infested with dangerous or 

 loathsome reptiles, especially snakes and scorpions, 

 centipedes and toads. The camel, the horse, the ass, 

 and the mule, are common throughout the country ; 

 the dog which they employ in hunting their game, 

 appears to be their only domestic animal. 



In Bornou, the houses are similar in form to those 

 of Tripoli, and throughout the whole empire the 

 same mode of building prevails. Four walls inclosing 

 a square, are first erected ; within these, v and parallel 

 to them, are built four other walls ; the intervening 

 space is then divided into different apartments, and 

 covered with a roof. Thus the space within the 

 interior walls determines the size of the court ; the 

 space between the walls determines the width of the 

 apartments ; and the rooms are of the same height as 

 the walls. On the outside of the house there is usu- 

 ally a second square or large yard, surrounded by a 

 wall, for the accommodation of the cattle. In the 

 construction of the walls, the following method is in- 

 variably adopted : A trench being made for the 

 foundation, is filled with dry and solid materials, ram- 

 med in with force, and levelled ; over these is placed 

 a layer of tempered mud or clay, in which are re- 



gularly fixed a proper number of stones. Thus with Borr - 

 alternate layers of clay and stones, the wall is raised * v ' 

 to the height of six or seven feet, when the workmen 

 suspend its progress for a week, that it may have 

 time to settle, and become compact ; for which pur- 

 pose they water it every day. The roofs are for- 

 med of branches of the palm-tree, intermixed with 

 brushwood, and covered with layers of earth, in such 

 a manner as at first to be water proof, though the 

 violence of the wind and rain generally destroys them 

 before the end of the second year. The whole build- 

 ing is white-washed with a species of chalk. 



Though the symmetry of the houses, and their ge- Towns, 

 neral resemblance to each other, would easily have ad- 

 mitted of a regular arrangement of streets, yet all the 

 towns of Bornou consist of houses straggling wide of 

 each other, and placed without method or rule. " The 

 obvious propriety of giving to the principal mosque 

 a central situation, exhibits the only proof of atten- 

 tion to general convenience." The towns, in gene- 

 ral, have no external defence ; but Bornou, the capi- 

 tal, is surrounded by a wall of fourteen feet in height, 

 the foundations of which are from eight to ten feet 

 deep, and which seems to be very firmly built. A 

 ditch surrounds the whole ; and in the wall there are 

 four gates, opening to the east, west, north, and south, 

 which are carefully shut every evening at sunset, to 

 protect the inhabitants from any sudden surprise. 



Less attention is paid to the furniture of the houses Furniture, 

 than to their structure. Among the lower classes, 

 the only articles of furniture are mats covered with a 

 sheep skin, upon which they sleep, an earthen pot, 

 a pan of the same kind, two or three wooden dishes, 

 two wooden bowls, an old carpet, a lamp for oil, and 

 sometimes a copper kettle. Besides these utensils, 

 the richer inhabitants possess leathern cushions stuffed 

 with wool, several brass and copper vessels, a hand- 

 some carpet, and a sort of candlestick ; for instead of 

 vegetable oil, which is used by the common people, 

 they employ the light of candles manufactured from 

 bees wax, and the tallow of sheep. 



The wide dominions of Bornou are peopled by a Popula- 

 countlcss multitude, among whom no fewer than thir- tion. 

 ty different languages are spoken. The language 

 which prevails in the capital, bears a strong resem- 

 blance to that of the neighbouring negroes ; but the 

 nobles and principal families converse in Arabic. 

 They are acquainted with the art of writing, and are 

 taught to express the Bornou tongue in Arabic cha- 

 racters. The natives are represented as singularly Manners of 

 courteous and humane. They will not pass a stran- the inhabi- 

 ger on the road without stopping to salute him ; their ranM - 

 houses are ever open for the reception of visitants ; 

 and their sharpest quarrels are mere contests of words. 

 Passionately fond of the amusement of drafts, they 

 often sit down upon the ground, and forming holes to 

 answer the purpose of squares, supply the place of 

 men with dates, or the meaner substitute of stones, 

 or camel's dung. On the event of a game, they stake 

 their whole property, sometimes even their clothes ; 

 and as the bye-standers constantly take sides, and 

 obtrude their advice, the whole groupe presents the 

 most ludicrous scene of violent gesticulation and cla- 

 morous abuse. Persons of superior rank devote them- 

 selves to chess, in which they are said to be eminently 



